Bimmer Newbie

Yep. I told you that already!
$400 bought me an E30 with no physical damage, brand new tires and alignment, an engine you could barely hear when running, an interior with cloth seats in which the ONLY flaw in was the driver's side seat left-side was ripped to shreds. Everything else was brilliant!
The paint was in bad shape though; the hood was heavily screwed up due to some kind of botched buffing job and certain body panels had a different shade of Zinnoberrot than the others!

Why such a low price? Broken gear-linkage, which took all of 10 minutes to weld back. Owner thought it had a bad tranny.

Yeah, almost sounds too good to be true.
Awesome deal though.
I hear that there are some bimmer owners that are super old school and don't like the new body style or what it has to offer.

I'm kind of like that, only I don't hold back because of the styling, but instead because 1) I can't afford it, but most importantly 2) because they're way too complicated and if something goes wrong, you'll have to remortgage the house in order to afford fixing it.

Aaaaaand unfortunately, I don't want to be in your shoes when the warranty/CPO runs out...

Yep. I told you that already!
$400 bought me an E30 with no physical damage, brand new tires and alignment, an engine you could barely hear when running, an interior with cloth seats in which the ONLY flaw in was the driver's side seat left-side was ripped to shreds. Everything else was brilliant!
The paint was in bad shape though; the hood was heavily screwed up due to some kind of botched buffing job and certain body panels had a different shade of Zinnoberrot than the others!

Why such a low price? Broken gear-linkage, which took all of 10 minutes to weld back. Owner thought it had a bad tranny.

I'm kind of like that, only I don't hold back because of the styling, but instead because 1) I can't afford it, but most importantly 2) because they're way too complicated and if something goes wrong, you'll have to remortgage the house in order to afford fixing it.

Aaaaaand unfortunately, I don't want to be in your shoes when the warranty/CPO runs out...

Ah, don't scare/remind me. Your signature says you've got 300k miles on your car. How much would you say you have spent on maintenance during that time?

Ah, don't scare/remind me. Your signature says you've got 300k miles on your car. How much would you say you have spent on maintenance during that time?

Umm... a lot. lol

I'm heavy into preventative maintenance, so about half of what I spent wasn't necessary at the time. But, it probably would have cost me double what I paid in the two years I owned it had there have been a serious problem.

Including all mods AND maintenance, I'd say I dumped well above 3.5 to 4k into the car in the 2 years I've had it.

Only about a third of those were necessary/crucial repairs... OK fine, about 1/2 if you count my recent suspension/brake job. Technically the car would have been fine for a while with the parts I had but the parts were pretty badly worn.

This car is a labor of love, and you'll probably find the same situation on your end!

Yeah, I'm sure it will be the same for me. My first bimmer is quite special. Our garage is full, so I park it in the driveway. I refuse to park it on the street. Darn kids (I have a little one) put a football sized dent in my Accord which was parked on the street less than 2hrs!

Not really looking at mods so far. Well.....if you count tint, then ok. Yup getting it tinted on Monday.
Eventually looking into a K&N air filter, unless anyone recommends another brand.

I know....I've been so bad due to the holidays.
BUT, I did Zaino my car on wednesday just as the fog was coming in.
Looks nice and clean, and I did take some pics of course.
I think my neighbors think I'm crazy always taking pics of my car.

3 bimmers? Nice. I'd like an e30 5spd for fun. But it's obviously not a necessity at the moment. I know I can find them cheap around here, but I really should focus on my current car and pay it off.....ugh, 5yrs, but hoping to pay it off in 3. But I do enjoy it.

Eventually looking into a K&N air filter, unless anyone recommends another brand.

Completely worthless. BMW's intake system works just fine for your car unless and until you decide to supercharge or turbocharge it or modify the engine far beyond what any sane person would do with an automatic trans behind it. Save that money for the E30 track car since you can't drive a cabrio in most 'CCA driver schools.

I think it's on the home page, in the drop down menu of the user profile box.

Actually I don't see anything in the drop down box to link my membership to the forums. Someone else mentioned that I had to contact the webmaster or something. I sent an email because their office is closed and won't reopen until next week.

I've seen one or two other newbies with the same problem. So maybe we'll get our stuff taken care of next week.

Actually I don't see anything in the drop down box to link my membership to the forums. Someone else mentioned that I had to contact the webmaster or something. I sent an email because their office is closed and won't reopen until next week.

I've seen one or two other newbies with the same problem. So maybe we'll get our stuff taken care of next week.

Ok, I finally uploaded some pics in the member gallery. Nothing fancy. But I did get my windows tinted on Monday.

I got my membership cards in the mail yesterday and nothing about the avatar. Went into user profile where I can put a custom avatar and that doesn't seem to work. I hope somebody out there can help you.

I got my membership cards in the mail yesterday and nothing about the avatar. Went into user profile where I can put a custom avatar and that doesn't seem to work. I hope somebody out there can help you.

Have a look at the "Feedback" forum. I seem to remember there were a few members who where having similar problems that were addressed in that forum.